Thursday, September 16, 2010

The other day I had a craving for something oober chocolatey and began my search by going to a few of my favorite food blogs and searching for brownie recipes. There were tons of yummy looking ones, but the all time best came from the Big Red Kitchen. I love this blog as there are so many yummy, quick recipes including her recipe for the following Knock You Naked brownies.

Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the cake mix, 1/3 cup of condensed milk and melted butter in a large mixing bowl. The mixture will be on the thick side, in fact mine seemed super thick so I added another 1/4 cup melted butter. Spread half of this mixture in the baking pan and place in the oven for 7 minutes.

Next melt the caramels and other 1/3 cup condensed milk in a saucepan on the stove. Stir pretty constantly so that it does not burn or melt only part way. This will take a few minutes, so be patient, it will melt! Once it does, pour it on top of the already baked portion of brownies.

Top that with the cup of chocolate chips, followed by the pecan or other nut pieces. Top it all off by crumbling the rest of the brownie mixture over it and baking for another 13-15 minutes.

They are gooey brownies, so they will seem a little soft but you will know they are done when the top looks done.

These brownies are super rich, best eaten with a big glass of milk or water. Also I thought they had a little too much caramel...maybe next time I will use an 8 ounce package of caramels instead. Enjoy!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The other night, after getting off of work unexpectedly early, I received a text message from my hubby asking me to stop off at the store for some ice cream for my sister-in-law who just got her wisdom teeth removed. Being the wonderfully nice sister-in-law that I am, I agreed (of course this has a lot to do with working right next to the dang grocery store). I was also quite hungry myself and figured it would probably be better to grab something there than pick up something at a fast food place, so I aimlessly wondered for maybe 5 minutes before inspiration struck. I wanted pasta!! I always want pasta, but I figured I was going to be home an hour and a half early so I might as well cook something yummy. However, I was bad...I did a big no no...please everyone forgive me...but I BOUGHT pesto!!!

I can see it now...you are all frozen in horror as you reread that last sentence over and over. I know, I know, bad Rheannon!! Bad!! But I was hungry and figured at $5 for a teeny bottle it better be good. Surprise...it was not. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't too bad but mine is way better. Anyway, I got home put some water on to boil and sautéed a shallot, chopped a tomato and some fresh parsley. I cooked up some penne, my favorite, and added the pesto, shallots, tomatoes, some sliced black olives and sprinkled on some Parmesan and parsley. It was still yummy but next time I will definitely make my own pesto!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Okay, so many of you know that I have a handful of recipes that I never ever share and this one is one of them. I have negotiated with my husband a chance for someone to get the recipe though. There are some conditions however, I will post pictures of the recipe as I made it the other night for dinner. I will then ask whoever is interested in getting the recipe to list all of the ingredients they can identify in the comment section, whoever has the most correct ingredients will get an email containing my recipe. I ask though that whoever gets it not go straight ahead and post it online, that would kind of ruin the fun...

Monday, September 6, 2010

So I was standing at work yesterday, enjoying the fact that is was not too hot outside, when the desire to grill hit me. From then on, all I could think of was running out the door, hitting the grocery store for some great veggies to grill and opening a beer as I waited for the grill to warm up...too bad I still had like 4 hours till I went home! So instead, I spent my breaks and most of my lunch pouring through the recipes I had saved on my Epicurious and AllRecipes apps on my iPhone. I finally found what I was looking for on my last break, a recipe for pecan-crusted pork tenderloin pinwheels with carolina mustard sauce. The picture looked amazing and the recipe did not seem too time consuming or difficult, perfect for a shift that ended at 5pm. As soon as I clocked out, I drove straight over to the grocery store, grabbed everything I needed and was home in record time.

Now, I must admit that I did not exactly follow the recipe last night for two reasons. One, I kind of didn't really read the recipe again after I got home, I just went on ahead and did it from memory and two I just didn't want to waste the time rolling the pieces of pork in pecans if they were all going to fall off anyway. With that in mind, I will go ahead and write what I did down, but will include the link for whoever wants it to the actual recipe on epicurious.com.

To make the sauce, add all ingredients to a bowl and stir until well combined. It is best done the night before, but tastes pretty good even if made right before grilling.

Take the pork tenderloin and cut it into 6 long 1/4 inch thick strips, about the same size as the bacon. Take a piece of the pork tenderloin and place a slice of bacon on top. Roll it up carefully, ensuring that the bacon does not slip out and tuck it into place using two toothpicks. Roll the remaining 5 pieces of pork tenderloin and bacon in the same manner, being sure to secure each one with toothpicks. Now rub the outside of each pinwheel with the salt and pepper and spread a small layer of the Carolina Mustard Sauce on as well, then take each pinwheel and slice it down right through the middle, in between the toothpicks. Let them sit and marinade on a sheet pan while the grill warms up.

This is a great time to go clean off the grill or get some yummy veggies ready too. I chose some great summer veggies, including summer squash which I only just tried for the first time ever this year...man I did not know what I was missing! I sliced it up with some zucchini, a red, green and yellow pepper and a shallot that I had sitting around and tossed them with a couple of tablespoons of EVOO and some lemon pepper.

When the grill was hot (I just used a propane grill btw...) I tossed the pinwheels on there on their sides for a few minutes and then turned them over. Now I must warn you, I don't know if it was the sauce or the bacon grease, but I did have a few minor flare ups...nothing major though. I only coated one side with the carolina sauce too cause it contains quite a bit of mustard, and well, the hubby doesn't like mustard so there you go. I regretted it though! The sauce is AMAZING after it is grilled, very flavorful with a hint of sweet at the finish, so go crazy with it! When they were done, after maybe 15 minutes or so, I threw the veggies on there in a grill basket I bought at Williams-Sonoma this year. (One of my favorite stores I may add...) They took only about 10 minutes too as I only cooked them till warm, I love when grilled veggies still have some crunch to them. I made some plain white rice to go along side. It was quite yummy. The family ate it all up...no leftovers, much to our friend's dismay when he came over and saw pictures of these later.

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About Me

Welcome to the Adventures of a Frustrated Baker! I love to bake and sometimes find myself frustrated by the limitations of my kitchen, especially when it comes to space! Someday, I'll have the big beautiful kitchen I dream of but for now I make do with getting..."creative" when it comes to big projects. I'll try making just about anything once, though I can't always promise the greatest results. This blog is kind of a running tally of all of the things I have tried and gotten around to writing about. Thanks for joining me and I look forward to more cooking adventures with you!